A Light In The Blackout

During my college career, we had a final done on class computers. We got two hours to do our things, the teacher would grade us, and then the TA would lock the workstation, I assume so that they could save our work should someone want to challenge their grade, and reset the workstation for the next student.

I was good at that course, but sadly, during the exam, I had a visit from the blackout monster. I couldn’t remember how to do anything.

After two hours, the teacher came over to grade it.

Teacher: “Oh, wow. This is… this is not a good final. What happened, [My Name]? You’re usually one of my best students in the class.”

Me: “Sorry, I know, but I had a blackout.”

Teacher: “Oh, no. That won’t do; you’ll get a three out of twenty if we leave it like that.”

She turned to the TA in front of the classroom.

Teacher: “Hey, [TA]! Do not lock this PC. There is something wrong with it. [My Name] gets an extra hour to make up for the mistake.”

She turned back to me.

Teacher: “Now you can try and get some more points.”

Me: “Thanks, but I doubt an hour will do much good; I can’t remember anything.”

Teacher: “Won’t hurt to try, right?”

After a while, the teacher passed me again to grade the person next to me. She looked over to my screen and then spoke to the student in the biggest fake stage whisper.

Teacher: “Ah, yes, I see you used the Tabbed Pane solution for question two.” *The one I happened to be struggling with* “This is the correct method; you should get full marks for this solution.”

She saw me struggling some more.

Teacher: “Yes, I see you clearly didn’t have any problems finding the Tabbed Pane option — you know, the thing you’ll find if you click on the third button from the left on the toolbar — and then you clearly chose the fifth option from the drop-down list. Good on you.”

That not-so-subtle hint got me over my blackout and I managed to raise my grade to a thirteen out of twenty. Thank you, [Teacher], for realizing I’d had a blackout!